Another long-time church in Ringgold county will be bringing its service to the community to a close.

The United Presbyterian Church of Tingley, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in September 2008, will hold its last service on Sunday, Dec. 27. The church was founded in July of 1883 and is as old as the town of Tingley itself.

The church will be holding a celebration service of life and ministry on Sunday, Nov. 29, at 11 a.m.

Former members, pastors and long-time friends of the church including members of a neighboring church will join for the celebration. There will be refreshments for those who arrive early.

The service will allow reflections on the church’s life and ministry. Among the reflections will be how the church has been a training ground for ministers in training for their first parish. Another area of reflection will be the church’s role in the life of Tingley. 

Representatives of the Presbytery of Des Moines and the larger parishes the church has been a part of will also take part.

“This will be the beginning of the last Advent/Christmas season that the church will hold in praising and worshiping our Living Lord,” said pastor Bruce M. Giese. The church will close on the final Sunday of 2009.

“Because many of our active members have moved away or their ability to attend has changed in the past two years, the church feels sadly called to close out its ministry as our attendance is very low,” pastor Geise noted.

Geise has been the pastor of the group since May 2008. He came to know the congregation in 1972 when a fellow seminary student at Dubuque Theological Seminary was serving the congregation as a student and then as his first called pastorate along with serving the Mount Ayr Presbyterian Church. Pastor Karl Beasley plans to be back for the service.

Pastor Geise also thanked the Wagon Wheel Cafe, which allowed the church to hold an ecumenical Bible study on Thursday mornings from 10 to 11:15 a.m.

Health care was one of the topics when U. S. Congressman Steve King spent some time in Mount Ayr Monday, eating lunch with Ringgold county Republicans and touring the new Ringgold County Hopital facility.

King noted that the two major problems that Congress is supposed to be addressing in terms of health care are that health care is costing too much and there are too many uninsured people.

In answer to the problem of health care costing too much, King said it didn’t make sense to spend one or two trillion dollars more for health care in an effort to get a handle on rising health care costs.

“If you were in an accounting class in college and your answer on how to get control of spending in an area was to borrow a huge amount of money to spend for what you were already overspending on you might want to drop that class before you got your grade,” King said.

Then there is the question about too many uninsured. 

“If you take the 47 million number that the Democrats use and subtract those who are being served with Medicaid, those who have employers offering insurance that people are not taking, illegal aliens and those who make over $75,000 a year and are basically self insuring instead of using health insurance, you come up with 12.1 million people or about four percent of the U.S. population,” King said.

For four percent of the U.S. population the Democrats are wanting to change the whole system of how health insurance is given and the entire health delivery system according to King.

“This attempt to extend the government control over the whole health care system is being done as a means of expanding the dependency class to gain political power,” King charged.

The health plans that are now being put forward essentially cancels everyone’s health insurance policies by 2012, King said.

At that point a governmental czar to be named later will write the criteria for health insurance policies that can be offered and these policies will then have to be priced to provide the funds needed to cover the risks, he noted.

“Health insurance costs are bound to go up instead of down when added risks are mandated,” King said.

King noted the problems that have arisen in finding an equitable payment plan for Medicare as indicative of the problems that will be faced if more of the health care system is taken over.

He noted that he has worked to get reimbursement determined on a combination of quality of care received and cost effectiveness.

“Using these criteria, Iowa health care should be at the top of the list for reimbursement instead of near the bottom of the list,” King noted. Instead areas of the country that have high costs and lower quality are the ones which receive the most reimbursement.

The political payoffs of specific areas of the country which would not have to follow the rules of the rest of the states to get votes for the health care reform bills is just one example of how politics will be played with health care in the future if the current measures finally pass, King noted.

He noted that there are problems with the planned cuts in Medicare which are part of the Democrat plans.

“If the cuts were done to bring costs in high cost areas down closer to the costs in cost effective states like Iowa, that would be one thing,” King said. “Instead the cuts are usually made on a percentage basis, meaning that states that are doing a good job are penalized at the same rate as those that have bloated spending.”

King said he has been critical of some Republican plans for health care as well.

“My question when looking at each plan is how does this plan allow people who want to work harder and get ahead benefit over those who do not want to work as hard,” King said. 

King said he will continue to work as hard as he can to get the current plans defeated while being willing to look at legislation that will actually make a difference in helping people find affordable health care options.

King noted that in the past he had supported plans like the Health Savings Accounts, Medicare Advantage and the Critical Access Care program that is helping the new Ringgold County Hospital be built.

King took special note of the emergency room areas at the new hospital while on the tour.

He told the story of visiting one of the trauma units of a tent hospital in Iraq where many of the wounded soldiers where brought.

When the trauma unit was moved to a more permanent hospital built at the site, he helped in an effort to move the concrete floor of that unit, which had seen so much blood of U.S. soldiers spilt, to be used as part of a display at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

In a letter that King and four other Congressmen wrote to Army Maj. Gen. Galen Jackman, the Office of the Secretary of the Army legislative liaison chief, they said: “As we stood near Bay II, we realized that perhaps more lives have been saved, and lost, on this spot than perhaps any other during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The scuff marks and antiseptic stains on the floor tell a story of heroic efforts to give our wounded the best emergency medical care in the history of warfare. The lives saved, and lost, likely make the slab of concrete the most hallowed of ground in the entire country of Iraq.”

A section of the Air Force’s theater hospital from Balad, Iraq was installed into a new exhibit at the Museum on November 21, 2008, completing the exhibit which is now open to the public. 

“Trauma Bay II, Balad, Iraq” depicts how combat medics, surgeons, physicians, nurses and other medical personnel work together to save the lives of wounded service members in Iraq. The exhibit features a section of the actual emergency room tent used at Balad from 2003-2007, the floor of Trauma Bay II, where the most seriously wounded would be treated upon arriving at the hospital, and artifacts that offer a glimpse into the spectrum of trauma care offered from the battlefield through evacuation of the wounded to hospitals in Germany and the United States.

“At the informal dedication we had of the display, I had a nurse who had worked there come up to me to share how special it was to her to have the efforts of the medical people memorialized in such a way,” King said.

It’s a part of the efforts of Congressman King of which people might not be aware, but one that is close to his heart.

“It’s been a long and arduous process and not everyone understands some of the obstacles we have run into, but we are making real progress,” Blanton told the council.

The first setback came after the blade for the generator was designed last year and the company went to manufacturers to get the blade made.

As the firm went from manufacturer to manufacturer they were told that the firm was unknown or the blade was too small for manufacturing facilities. Others wanted huge startup fees up front.

Finally the firm decided that it needed to manufacture its own blades because the blade is such a radical departure from the design of other blades, Blanton said.

The firm is finishing up the second blade mold now and hopes to have it completed before Thanksgiving.

Once the mold is complete, prototype blades will begin to be constructed and sent off for testing.

Now that the blade plant has been developed, it may be possible to built blades for other firms as well, which would create some cash flow. Right now the plant will be able to turn out 2 1/2 blades a day but Blanton says the firm may have to build a second plant to keep up with the turbine assembly once production is fully underway.

“We will be able to assemble the turbines faster than our capacity to make the blades,” Blaton said.

Blanton said that their system will be able to turn out the fastest blade per mold cycle of any plant.

“Having much less capital expenditure up front by building our own plant will make us very competitive in the market place,” Blanton said. “We don’t have huge debt to service in this economic downturn.”

Consultants have told Heartland Energy Solutions that they have a state of the art facility that will put out some of the highest quality blades in the world, Blaton said.

And a review of the innovations that have been developed in the blade manufacturing facility alone had a consulting engineer saying that there were at least 10 sideline businesses that could be started from blade manufacturing concepts that have been developed for the facility here.

A firm from Italy is being brought in to help design a robotic painting system for the blades and using the robotic systems for some of the finishing steps will do away with some of the dirtier jobs while speeding up production, meaning more jobs overall will be available.

“You never know where the next hurdle may be,” he said. The firm lost 90 days when they had some delamination problems with test panels that they had to try to figure out.

It turned out that a truck driver had stopped the truck to take a nap and the resin that was being brought to the plant froze. When the resin was used, it did not work as it was supposed to because it has been damaged by temperature.

“When we finally got that figured out we were glad to know it wasn’t a problem with the process, but we lost 90 days in trying to trace everything back to figure out what had happened,” Blanton said.

The firm currently has 15 full-time employees and four or five who are part-time employees and hopes to begin another phase of hiring after the first of the year.

“We don’t see any problem in reaching our original goal of 106 employees and may need as many as 150 when we are in full production,” Blanton said.

The plant hasn’t been sitting idle as machinery to handle the mold manufacturing process has been designed and built and processes for assembling the wind turbines developed and put in place.

The firm plans for 2010 to be a limited production year to introduce the first models at a “rational rate” to make sure the brand-new technology works as expected.

The design of the new turbine system is to create a 100 kilowatt generation platform that can complete with 500 to 600 kilowatt platforms in generation.

“We will be providing a high efficiency platform at one-third the price of some of our competitors,” Blanton said.

The turbine will have a patented pitching system that is very compact and functional, providing the same abilities of systems four times the size. This will help keep down the weight of the turbine on the tower, Blanton said.

The firm is in the process of finding vendors to produce many of the parts for the turbine such as bearings, transmissions and the like and the first manufacturing will depend in part on when these parts are ready from suppliers. Over 100 vendors are involved with the items needed for the turbines.

According to what the vendors say, all the parts should be available so that the prototype turbine is constructed by March 31.

That deadline is at the mercy of the suppliers, however, Blanton noted.

The research and design phase had awakened interest in the turbines from a number of firms. “Sandia Labs is wanting to do research in our plant,” Blanton noted as one example.

Once all the parts for the turbine itself are received, the turbine will have to be run on the test stand which has been developed with cycle changes, speed changes and the like to make sure it holds up to the wind curves designed to test the instrument.

“We have to make sure the turbine can withstand 50-year wind gusts, ice and the like and simulate the blade turning and pitching system working,” Blaton said.

He said one of the recent projects has been building the test stand, which the crews built for $250,000 instead of the $2 million or more a purchased one would have cost.

The towers that will hold up the turbines and blades are now in design and it is hoped that the first tower for the prototype turbine will be put up in Mount Ayr sometime after Christmas.

“We will be putting up the tower and taking it down several time to help train installation crews and to get feedback from crane operators on the best way to proceed with installation,” Blanton said.

Blanton noted that the firm hopes to be able to use fiberglas towers for the turbines.

“We appreciate the patience people have had with our slower than hoped for start, but we have been accomplishing a lot of things and have built a revolutionary facility here,” Blaton said.

While work is done to get the first designs into production, research and development continues on new models to add additional improvements and efficiencies, Blaton said. “Research and development is a continuing process,” he said.

Working on the project has been the opportunity of a lifetime, Blanton says. In many engineering positions, one works on designing one aspect of a project.

Here the challenge has been to get the whole project designed and Blanton and Preston have worked long hours coming up with innovative solutions for developing the turbines as well as the plant to do the manufacturing in.

Blanton was very complimentary of the employees the firm has and their willingness to learn new skills and to be cross-trained so they understand all the processes of the plant.

“We are not some fly-by-nighters,” Blanton said. “We have some of the best people in the wind energy business helping us with the project because they are excited about some of the breakthroughs we are coming up with.”

In terms of marketing the turbines once they start coming off the assembly line, Blanton says there are a number of markets.

Schools and universities are looking at the turbines for providing electricity for their facilities. Factories are another market for the systems.

Because the turbines will run at lower windspeeds than other turbines and will be much more economical, there are a number of markets for the turbines.

Instead of wind farms like the groupings of the large generators are called, Heartland Energy Solutions is looking to produce turbines for wind “gardens.”

The profitability of the turbines depends on how much of the time the wind actually turns the blades as well as the generation compared to the costs.

“Our turbines should provide better economics in both areas,” Blanton said.

One project that is being discussed is the Northern Corridor project, a rail line which runs 150 miles in Iowa. Because the turbines  have a 90 foot diameter footprint they would fit in the railroad right of way and supply energy for ethanol and biodiesel plants which are being built along the rail line.

“It would be a system of using wind to help make other forms of renewable energy,” Blanton noted. Council member Jim Feeback asked Blanton when the city should begin talks if it wanted to get into the wind energy business.

Blanton said that now was the time and he suggested that council members talk with company CEO Charles Sharp if they are interested in exploring the possiblities.

Mayor Solliday thanked the engineers for the presentation on the progress of the plant and said he wanted the council to hear what was going on so they could help answer naysayers in the community.

Solliday also taped the presentation so he could share it with people who had questioned him about the progress of the plant.

 Scratch those building construction deadlines for the Mount Ayr Community school additions.

It will be next week at the earliest before the high school addition  will be complete and sometime in January after the Christmas break at the earliest for the completion of the elementary school addition.

Mount Ayr Community school board members heard the report on  building progress and then later toured the buildings themselves to see how they are progressing.

The board discussed an early retirement incentive and put off a decision on that until a special meeting, approved a supplemental resolution for the ISCAP program, okayed the junior class parents request to use high school facilities for after prom activities, named the district study committee, tabled discussion of a Masonic Lodge cornerstone for the new school facilities and approved an addition in contract for Jodie Geist and the TAP program.

In other action the board revisited their election of officers from their October meeting and were asked by Mount Ayr Record-News publisher Alan Smith to release the tape of a section of the October board meeting where there were not adequate reasons given for a closed session.

Building progress

Mark Sabers and Mark Cogan from Construction Services Inc. were present to report on the progress of the district’s building projects.

Sabers reported that the high school project was down to finishing up punch list items as well as getting the gymnasium floor finished.

The first coats of finish were being put on the new maple floor Monday night and painting of lines was set for Tuesday as work to get the gym floor done progressed.

Bleachers for the gymnasium were to be delivered soon along with some more lockers for the locker room.

The state fire marshal’s office sent an inspector last week to do the inspection of the building and a report with the certificate of occupancy was hoped to be returned by Friday.

Board members expressed concern about some cracking concrete floors in the middle school locker rooms but Mark Cogan said that some cracking of floors was normal.

Bulletin boards still need to go  up in the locker rooms and a number of finishing items need to be completed.

It is hoped that the alternative classroom can move into the building as soon as the certificate of occupancy is received.

The gym floor should be playable by November 20 if there are no more hitches.

At the elementary school the membrane roofing has been completed and the last of the flashing should be completed soon.

Concrete sidewalks were poured on the east side of the building Monday and work is underway to complete the grading and sidewalks on the east side as well.

Exterior painting of the building should be completed this week and overhead plumbing, mechanical and other work is going on.

Many of the windows are in and interior wall framing is up. Once temporary heating is in place work will begin on dry wall. The fire sprinkler system is in place except for fitting it with the completed ceiling.

While CSI is telling contractors they need to have work completed by January 9, it may take longer than that to have the elementary building completely ready for occupancy.

Board president Rodney Shields had questions about how short the work days seemed to be for some of the masonry work and asked if steel could not be cleaned up on the west side of the 1936 building so more parking would be available at the school.

Board members also had security questions about getting doors between older buildings and the new additions to lock so there was not access to the buildings through the construction areas.

Board members also asked about what was to be done to the concrete bases for the poles that hold up overhangs from the building.

The fact that the school was a smoke free campus was emphasized for CSI to communicate to the contractors working on site.

Board members had questions about the drainage at the elementary building site. The board also gave the go ahead for the contractors to do the final grading but leave the seeding at the elementary school to the school custodial staff.

Mark Sabers noted that the school district needs to get all the asbestos out of the 1936 building before it is demolished.

Superintendent Reiter noted that Ames Environmental had come to do a study of the remaining asbestos in the building and that it was hoped that a contractor could be found to do the final abatement during the Christmas holiday so students would not be interfered with while the work was being done.

Bidding will soon be done on  removing the 1936 building, but that work cannot be started until the elementary addition is completed and the moves have been made to the new facility from the 1936 building.

Some board members expressed frustration with the schedule for completion of the projects.

Following the report the board approved two change orders having to do with a hallway between the old and new building at the elementary for a total of $2,667 and a pay application of $616,227.30.

Early retirement incentive

Superintendent Russ Reiter reviewed the school district’s early retirement policy with the board, noting that some changes need to be made in the policy to meet current law.

In addition Reiter is thinking about having the school offer the early retirement program for the next school year even though the district had not planned to do so.

Reiter noted that the discussion at the meeting was just the starting point in the process. He hopes the board can hold a special meeting to put the final touches on the policy revisions and a decision on offering early retirement for the 2010-11 school year. The policy then could have its final reading at the board’s regular December meeting.

Some dates need to be changed to August 1 from September 1 in the present policy to meet changes in the law.

The policy needs to be changed to specifically indicate that early retirement teachers must have worked for at least 10 continuous years of service for the district before becoming eligible for the program.

The current policy says that benefits will be distributed in accordance with the school’s cafeteria plan, but to meet requirements the recipient must choose either, insurance, a TSA or cash but not a combination.

The plan will also indicate that early retirees can continue to stay on the school’s health insurance plan until age 65 at the expense of the retiree.

Wording about a beneficiary or revision to the person’s estate if they die during the payout period also needs to be included, Reier told the board.

The district had not planned to offer early retirement for the coming year and would not under normal circumstances, Reiter told the board.

There are changes planned in the IPERS retirement system, however, and it might be to some employee’s advantage to retire with full benefits now instead of waiting until the state governmental employee plans change.

Reiter noted the district does not like to lose good experienced employees but on the other hand replacements hired are usually at a lower placement on the salary scale and save the district money.

ISCAP supplemental resolution

Because of the tightness of budgets with the 10 percent cut in school state funding, districts like the Mount Ayr Community school district are going to the ISCAP program increasing limits on how much the district can borrow for short term cash flow needs.

The board passed a resolution amending the master resolution for the program.

Board secretary Janette Campbell noted that all districts are being encouraged to make the changes in their borrowing abilities because of the possibility they may need more funding to keep bills paid as income comes in slowly.

After program use of facilities

Darla Sobotka wrote a letter to the school board on behalf of the junior class parents asking that the high school commons, auditorium and gymnasium be made available for after prom activities.

The school board has allowed the use as long as there are school staff members among the parent group who will be responsible for the facilities during the early morning hours.

The board approved the request. Betsy Budach was at the meeting taking notes for the Mount
Ayr Education Association and noted that there were a number of junior class parents on staff this year.

District study committee

The board approved the list of members of the district study committee for the 2009-10 school year.

Members and the group they represent include:

Kim Lutrick, parent; Marc Roberts, parent; Darin Dolecheck, Mount Ayr Chamber of Commerce; Russ Reiter, administration, Ken Harrison, administration; Lynne Wallace, administration; Donetta Phelps, parent; Carol Glendenning, parent; Wendy Wimer, parent; Brandie Shay, parent; Jodie Wurster, community; Brenda Adams, Family Resource Center;

Leslie Murphy, parent; George Hunt, parent; P. J. West, school board member; Duane Schafer, school board member; Karen Taylor, Mount Ayr Education Association; Sue Larsen, school improvement; Alan Smith, Mount Ayr Record-News; Carroll Taylor, parent; Mike Wimer, parent; Angie Dodge, K-6 representative; Jodie Geist, grant writer; Maci Sickels, student; Alex Wallace, student;  Matt Kerns, student; David Greene, parent; Susan Winemiller, parent; Valle Smith, school improvement; Jeff Sickels, parent.

The district study committee meets monthly to learn about school programs and to develop goals to suggest to the school board for school improvement.

Tabling of cornerstone offer

The Masonic Lodges of Mount Ayr and Kellerton have expressed interest in providing a cornerstone and cornerstone laying ceremony for the Mount Ayr Community elementary school addition.

Jack Cook has visited with the board at past meetings and board members had some more questions to be answered before a decision is made.

One question was what the cost of the cornerstone would be to the school district, for example.

Because Cook was not available for the meeting, the board tabled the matter until more information could be discussed.

Board members noted that they had had some positive feedback but also some questions from the public about the need for the cornerstone.

 Contract extension

The school board voted on a contract extension for Jodie Geist, who works year round with the TAP program.

The board approved extending her contract for 25 days for a total additional pay of $7,060.50.

It was noted that Geist has had this contract extension each year because of the nature of the TAP program.

Half of the money comes from special education funding and half from a grant, superintendent Reiter told the board.

Officer vote revisit

At the October meeting of the school board, the board used a secret ballot to elect president and vice president.

State law says that each vote of a public entity like a school board has to be made so that the vote of each member is known to the public so a secret ballot is not allowed.

Votes can be taken by raising hands, by voice vote or by ballot, but the results in each case must be reported so that the public knows the vote of each school board member.

School board secretary Janette Campbell had kept the secret ballots from the meeting last month and passed them back out to board members to put their names on them.

The results remained the same with Rodney Shields named president and Jim Uhlenkamp named vice president.

Voting for Shields for president were Larry Giles, Jim Uhlenkamp and P. J. Munyon. Rod Shields voted for Larry Giles for president and Duane Schafer voted for Jim Uhlenkamp.

Voting for Uhlenkamp for vice president were Duane Schafer, P. J. Munyon and Larry Giles. Rod Shields voted for P. J. Munyon and Jim Uhlenkamp voted for Larry Giles.

Closed session request

At the September meeting of the board, the board went into closed session using the exemption of open meetings number i. This exemption says: To evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session.

When challenged on the closed session at the October meeting by Mount Ayr Record-News publisher  Alan Smith, superintendent Russ Reiter said that the board had used the wrong exemption. He said the closed session was for discussion of litigation, which would have meant using a different exemption.

The board did not make any attempt to change the minutes of the meeting to reflect the change.

On looking at the litigation exemption, however, it was noted that an attorney had to be present for this exemption to be used.

The exemption says “to discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in that litigation.”

Smith told the board he felt that the closed session had not met either of the exemptions so asked that he be allowed to review the tape of the closed session as a way to remedy the matter.

Superintendent Reiter said he would check into the matter further and let Smith know the decision.

Smith noted that the responsibility of keeping board meetings open to the public was that of the school board and not the superintendent or school board secretary and included the section on enforcement in a handout to the board, which includes the fines possible for closing a meeting without the proper authorization.

 Canvassing of the vote brought some different results in close races and ties were broken by the Ringgold county board of supervisors in municipal elections.

Election results for Beaconsfield, Benton and Maloy were affected by the official canvass of the results.

When provisional ballots were counted Donald Zollman was named mayor of Benton instead of Bob Haley. Haley had a one-vote lead over Zollman in the unofficial election night results.

Jeannittie Todd and Don Ray were announced as having tied for mayor of Maloy, but Todd was named mayor when provisional ballots were counted.

In two council seats, ties had to be broken by the supervisors.

In Maloy Mel Burton, Betsy Keenan and Stephanie Todd were elected as council members. Linda Murphy had reported to be elected in the original tabulations.

A tie between Connie Neesen and Tim May for a council seat in Beaconsfield was broken by a drawing with Neesen being elected to a term.

Mount Ayr Community high school will be hosting the  Pride of Iowa vocal festival Tuesday, Nov. 10. 

There will be approximately 96 students and directors here for the festival.  Rehearsals begin at 9 a.m. and run until 5  p.m. with an evening concert at 7  p.m. in the MACHS auditorium.  

The guest conductor is professor Thomas Hart from Graceland University in Lamoni.  The Graceland Chamber Singers, under the direction of professor Hart, will also present a concert that evening.  Nancy Sackett is the accompanist.

Schools attending include Bedford, Central Decatur, Corning, East Union, Interstate 35, Southeast Warren, Wayne, Nodaway Valley, Pleasantville, Martensdale- St. Marys and Lenox.

Students from Mount Ayr participating in the vocal festival include Cade Lambson, Courtnie Cox, Luria Staats, Dawn O’Brien, Cyndi Brand, Mayumi Fernandez, Katie McVey and Johnnie Veatch, with alternate students Ashley Wickizer and Hannah Blanton.   Directors of the high school choir are Dana Morris and Greg Storhoff.

The Mount Ayr Iowa Ambassadors of Music students Tom Hosfield, Courtnie Cox, Ian Abarr, Jessie Ricker and Luria Staats and parents will serve supper to the Pride of Iowa participants.

  Don Solliday was elected mayor of Mount Ayr, Bob Haley was written in for mayor of Benton, Kristina Nail was elected mayor of Kellerton and Don Weaver was elected mayor of Blockton in contested mayoral races for the municipal elections held across Ringgold county Tuesday.

Voter turnout was higher in some communities where there were races, and several offices were filled by write-in among the 12 city elections in county communities.

There were ties in two of the elections which must still be broken. For mayor of Maloy Don Ray and Jeannittie Todd each had three votes. For the Beaconsfield council, Connie Neessen and Tim May each received seven votes for a council position which must still be decided.

There were several communities that had races for council seats as well. Winners are reported withe results of each of the separate elections.

All vote totals are preliminary results and must be canvassed by the county board of supervisors before becoming official.

Here are the listing of voting results in each of the communities.

Beaconsfield (mayor and three council members to be elected) -- Gary Smith was elected mayor with 14 votes. There were several write-ins for city council members with one tie yet to be settled. Write-in Eugene McAlexander received 11 votes. Michael Neessen, who was on the ballot received nine votes. There was a tie for the third place position between write-ins Connie Neessen and Tim May, who each received seven votes. Other vote totals for two candidates who were on the ballot included four votes for Penny Sue May and three votes for Lillie M. Matlage.

Benton (mayor and three council members to be elected) -- Write-in Bob Haley received 13 votes to edge Don Zollman’s 12 votes in the mayor’s race. Daron Richie received 20 votes, Kelly Richie received 19 votes and Diane Zollman received 18 votes to be named to the council terms.

Blockton (mayor and three council members to be elected) -- Don Weaver received 41 votes to 24 for Selina O’Connor to be elected mayor. Richard Brown received 56 votes, Katie Constant received 52 votes and Cindy Maxson received 43 votes to be elected to the council. Johnnie G. Shimer received 24 votes for council.

Clearfield (mayor and three council members to be elected) -- Roger Herring received 27 write-in votes to be elected mayor.  Linda M. Anderson received 56 votes, Karen Larsen received 55 votes and Phil Buchanan received 52 votest to be elected to the council seats.  Roger A. Hering had 41 votes, Marlene Darling had 17 votes and Richard Saville had 11 votes in other candidates.

Delphos (mayor and five council members to be elected) -- Theron Johnson received six votes to be named mayor. Council candidates Becky Caldwell, Lesa K. Saville, Timothy L. Saville, Virginia Stephenson and Bernie Rothman, each received six votes to be elected.

Diagonal (mayor and two council members plus one council member to fill a vacancy) -- Lowell D. Johnson received 58 votes to be elected mayor. John W. Egly III received 57 votes, Lester Elliott received 55 votes and John W. Shields received 15 votes with Egly and Elliott being re-elected to the council. Shon O’Kelley received 58 votes to be elected to fill a vacancy on the council.

Ellston (mayor and five council members to be elected) -- Tim Creveling received 11 votes to nine for Ray Derscheid to be elected mayor. Gene Reed received 12 votes, Jerri Stewart and Nan Derscheid each received 11 votes,  Curt Jones received 10 votes and Joanne Bullock received nine votes to be elected to the city council. All but Bullock were write-ins.

Kellerton (mayor and two council members to be elected) -- Kristina Nail received 35 votes to be elected mayor in Kellerton. Paul A. Fifer had 28 votes and David D. Handy had 12 votes for mayor. Janet P. Holmes received 71 votes and Kathy Comer Johnston received 40 votes to be elected to the two open council seats. Chad Eugene Holmes received 33 votes.

Maloy (mayor and three council members to be elected) -- No one was on the ballot in Maloy where Don Ray and Jeannittie Todd each received three write-in votes to tie for mayor. Mel Burton received six votes and Linda Murphy and Betsy Keenan each received four votes to be elected to the city council.

Mount Ayr (mayor and two council members to be elected) -- incumbent Donald B. Solliday received 177 votes and write-in candidate Raymond Hensley received 151 votes in the election. Mack Greene and 284 votes for council  and Brent Ricker received 258 votes to be elected to the council.

Redding (mayor and five council members to be elected) -- No one was on the ballot in Redding, where Dan Quick received 15 votes to be elected mayor. Jeff Quick received 16 votes, Dick Snethen received 14 votes and Jerry Overholser, Jay Cox and Junior Hanks received 10 votes each to be named to the city council.

Tingley (mayor and two council members to be elected) -- Elmer D. Bradley received 28 votes to be elected mayor. Larry Jarred received 29 votes and Lois Ibbotson received 27 votes to be named to the city council.